The Guardian 17 May, 2006
Asylum seeker policy again under fire
Peter Mac
Last week, Prime Minister John Howard stated that he would "discuss things" with Liberal backbenchers who oppose his new plans for offshore detention of asylum seekers — in other words, he would sort them out.
It may not be so easy. Last year some Liberals forced changes to the Government’s policy of incarcerating women and children in immigration detention centres.
That change involved little more than a loss of face for Howard and the Cabinet. This time, however, the issue involves dispute between the Government and Indonesia over the granting of temporary visas to a number of refugees from Indonesian-occupied West Papua.
To mollify Indonesia, the Howard Government hastily concocted new legislation under which asylum seekers arriving by boat would be moved to other countries, where their visa applications would be processed. Attempting to justify this craven backdown, Minister for Immigration Senator Amanda Vanstone blustered that "We’re not going to be used as a staging point for protests about domestic issues in other countries".
Under the new legislation, the coastal zone in which landing points were previously excised from our immigration laws would be moved to the mainland. The effect is ridiculous, as well as cruel and discriminatory. People arriving by boat would find that Australia appeared to have no borders that they could reach.
A second group of three West Papuan asylum seekers were intercepted in the Torres Strait last week after their boat sank and Indonesian military pursuers stabbed one of them to death. They are now being held on Horn Island while the Government attempts to persuade Papua-New Guinea to accept them.
The new policy denies anyone who arrives by boat the right to legal appeals against refusals of visa applications. Children arriving in this way would be held in detention centres, contrary to the agreement reached last year between the Prime Minister and backbenchers who objected to this.
In fact, there are now 39 children living under detention, so the agreement has fallen well short of fulfilment. The Prime Minister has claimed that the agreement was never intended to apply to offshore detention. The rebellious Liberals don’t agree, but in any case, by enforcing offshore processing of a particular category of asylum seekers, the Government is bound to increase the number of children held in detention.
The new legislation would be defeated if one Liberal Senator crossed the floor, and if all opposition Senators opposed it. It remains to be seen whether this will take place, but it is perfectly clear that the legislation embodies policy of crucial importance to our national independence, and to our claims to civilised and humane treatment of people who appeal to us for asylum.
Liberal Senator Petro Georgiou has stated that he would oppose the bill, because children would suffer from being held in detention at Nauru and other offshore centres, even if they were allowed out of the camps during daylight.
Regarding the Papuans now held on Horn Island, the Greens spokesperson on immigration, Senator Kerry Nettle, commented bluntly: "This is a test case for the Howard Government. Any moves to take these men to Nauru or other places of offshore detention will be seen in Australia as appeasing the Indonesian Government."